


Tubuluk Taza

by Wordwitch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Magic, Gen, The Correct Definition of the word Pure, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-31 18:44:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21450949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wordwitch/pseuds/Wordwitch
Summary: It is hard to be schooled in your own family motto and duty, but when the Founder of your House shows up to do just that, well.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	Tubuluk Taza

**Author's Note:**

> I have chosen to use Kyrgyz as the ancient language spoken by Black Earth, the Founder of the House of Black. I apologize to any native speakers of this language for the inevitable misuse caused by translation programs.

_"Toujours pur_ is not a motto, you idiot children!" raved the short man stomping wrathfully among the Purebloods kneeling terrified in the middle of their own parlor. "It is an oath, the oath I made in the presence of Zirnitra to the Lady Hecate, to the source and being of magic: _Tubuluk Taza_! What has happened to Kara Uyu?"

"But we have kept our blood pure, Ancient Father! We have not mingled our bloodline with Muggles or the Muggleborn, and we have cast out all of our failures!"

He stared at her, this Walburga, his expression and his entire blocky body congealing into stone.

"Bloodline matters," he hissed, "to those who cannot themselves achieve. The House, the House is all! Pure - "

His face suddenly flushed a crimson that swiftly appeared in his hands.

"Have you committed _Kan Almazhu_? Have you conceived within the five degrees?"

His magic, swirling about him since he had first appeared, now expanded like a black, star-shot tornado and his teeth seemed to extend. Walburga tipped forward upon her face.

"It was the only way! All other families had become polluted!"

"_You_ have become polluted!" he shouted. "But. I see that it is before your _muun_, that your mothers and fathers were within the _besh gradus_, the forbidden circle."

He squinted at her and then at the others, only the youngest still meeting his eyes. Their magic ran corrupted within the corrupted channels of their bodies, the damage renewed and compounded and wholly outside their ability to correct, or his, or Zirnitra's either. This was Lady Hecate's gift to them, to repair the House going forward.

The elder of the two children summoned every ounce of what looked like a mountain of courage.

"Ancient Father, will you tell us what you mean when you say Pure?"

Karadjer inhaled, then dropped to the floor and folded his legs, beckoning the boys to come sit with him.

"Magic is pure, is _purity_. It is best wielded by the pure soul. If the souls that wield it become corrupt, then the Magic they wield becomes corrupted. Corrupt Magic is brittle, and cannot renew itself. The causing of pain that does not directly benefit the one experiencing the pain causes corruption in the one causing it. An example."

He held out his right arm, pushing the sleeve above his bicep.

"The woman who put this art into my arm caused me a great deal of pain. But the art describes my names in a way that can be read by another, and it also ensures that I will never forget them. This is a benefit to me, and I asked her to do it. Her Magic, and my Magic, and the Magic of House Black, and Magic entire, all increased because of this painful art."

The gesture he made allowed the currents to lift and show themselves above the thick jagged lines, black and green and crimson, visibly billowing out in clouds of cleansing and healing. The children relaxed within the currents, damage to their lines of lightning healing as they watched. Karadjer felt the hailspots of rage spatter his skin: only a close relative could have done them such injury.

"Another example. Bellatrix. Come here."

The fierce insane girl crawled to them, her disbelieving lack of understanding completely unable to combat his command.

"Show your art."

She pushed her left sleeve to her elbow, revealing an image of a skull housing a serpent.

"Did you request this art?"

"It was offered, and I accepted," she spat.

He regarded her.

"Ancient Father," she added, subdued.

"And what benefits does it provide you?"

"I know when my master needs me, and where he is, and I can go directly to him!"

"Child, what I requested was the benefit it provided to you, not to your bondmaster." He leaned forward and made the revealing gesture over the art. It moved. The currents lifted and showed themselves: Magic was being drawn out of her and sent ... elsewhere. Magic was being drawn from the family, passed through her, and sent away, presumably to her bondmaster.

"I see," said the younger boy, raising himself onto his knees to take a closer look. "The colors look. Um. Powdery? Yours look like paint."

The serpent writhed upon her arm and she screamed. Karadjer found both his hands clamped over her art, the serpent throbbing beneath them, and he hauled on the bondmagic. Skull and snake rose whole from her arm, chalky in his hands, and, wholly infuriated, he stuffed them into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

The eyes of both boys and of the girl were as round and wide as their mouths.

He conjured a krater, filled it with placewater, and washed the foul magic down. In eighty years of life and centuries of rebirth and return, he had never once found a thing he could not stomach to his own blessing. Apparently Hecate approved of this method of cleansing Her blessing. Zirnitra had shimmered unwilled into sight the first time he had done it, wailing with laughter.

"Back to the lesson, then. So how would you analyze that infliction of pain? The one that made her art, first, and then what I did."

"She didn't ask for it, she just accepted it," said young Regulus tentatively. Karadjer nodded encouragingly.

"It didn't give her any benefits for herself. It just made her a better slave," Sirius said angrily.

"It was stealing her magic and _our_ magic too," Regulus snarled, turning and looking his young aunt in the face.

"And the pain I caused?"

"It helped!"

"How? You must show it entirely, or it is no more than a claim. Claims are not truth, no matter how loudly spoken."

"Um, she was already hurting from something else. We know because Bella was screaming and she never screams. What you did hurt for a minute and made the pain stop. Which we know because she stopped screaming and looked surprised."

"Bellatrix, listen well." He lifted his head and demanded the attention of the rest. "Causing unneeded pain corrupts Magic. Enjoying seeing the pain another is suffering is an indication that the soul is corrupted. Causing pain to a child that is not in the direct service of that child's survival corrupts the soul and Magic. The House of Black has been impure for _muun_ upon _muun_, to the ... he tapped his hooflike nails on the floor, and Zirnitra whispered to him. "To the tenth generation! To shortly after the founding of your great School upon this Island! Oh my Lord, why sent not me to them then?"

He wept for a few minutes, while Zir wrapped him in solace and whispered that Karadjer was already reborn elsewhere at the time. When he gathered himself, he found that the children, all three, had wrapped their arms around him in an attempt to comfort the ancient founder of their house. He patted them in thanks and arose from the floor.

"Hear me well. And let this be written." The adults came more or less gracefully to their feet as a scroll of creamy parchment appeared in the air beside him, raven quill poised to inscribe.

"Keep your Magic pure by refusing to use it to cause unneeded pain or death, of body or of soul."

"No bullying," whispered Sirius to Regulus, and Karadjer agreed.

"Purify the corrupted Magic of the House of Black by healing and creating and building. Dedicate the Magic of our House to the defense and betterment of the distressed. Never again conceive within the Forbidden Fifth Degree of blood. Never! It causes madness and deformities and stupid ideas like that blood could be more or less pure because of who you are related to. Blood can be more or less pure because of two things and _only these two._"

He stared Walburga directly in her mad and angry eyes.

"Infection of a wound. Disease of the body. _That is all._ Keep your _Magic_ always pure! Add strength to the House by marriage, by adoption, by incorporation. Add from outsiders and from dormant lines. Add soulbrothers and wandsisters and greengardeners! Keep all children of the House within the nurturing embrace of the House regardless of the presence of any magic you can see, and guard all children within the sight of any member. That is how Atlantis fell, failing to protect children.

"Idiot people decided that they could achieve their goals by torturing and killing children. And other idiots, instead of seizing them and stopping them, decided to believe them! And assist them. 

"And so fell what had been the center of human civilization for ten thousand years. So scattered all humanity to hide from the corrupted lava-bombs of magical constructs. 

"Hear me well, Walburga, Orion, Arcturus: the glories of the history of the House are stories to inspire our children to achievements of their own. They serve _no other purpose_. They are not yours to be proud of: add your own achievements for your pride. Cleanse the pain from your domicile, your records, and your dealings to purify this House and bring back its proper pride.

"Hear me well, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Andromeda: purity is only of action and of Magic. Act to generate delight, and you will be _Arkashan Taza_, _Toujours Pur_, pure all the days of your lives. Set yourself to recognize the enemy: she will cause pain to delight her own heart. He will cause death and grief to teach death and grief. They will seek to set themselves over someone, anyone. And they are all impure corrupters of Magic and the direct reason for Magic diminishing in the World.

"Hear me well, Sirius, Regulus: serve the people of Magic and you serve your Magical House. Serve all the peoples of the world and you give good service to Magic. Choose the service that delights your heart and you will correctly do your duty to me.

"Remember the lesson of the art on my arm and on the arm of Bellatrix."

He looked around at the lot of them once more.

"Let me hear none of you refer to yourselves any more as Pureblood. You have conceived within the Forbidden Five for ten generations and have thus introduced disease into your blood. You may call this the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, but that. Is. All.

"The Lord of Magic has permitted me to bring you this rebuke and command because you are the last of my children. If you will accept my rebuke and follow my commands, come to me now and request that my Name and your Name be engraved upon your person, so that you may request and receive advice and aid."

Before he had finished his last sentence, the three children were in front of him saying _please. Please._ Their elders paused only briefly before joining them.

  
Zirnitra held him from rebirth long enough to advise this remnant of his House all the way to their distant deaths, and to see the well of Black Family Magic purified.

In turn, he refrained from wrestling Zir to the ground and bloodying his nose for not allowing him to stay physically among them. 


End file.
